Display panels of the type under consideration, known as PANAPLEX panels, have been sold commercially for many years. These panels include a gas-filled envelope made up of a base plate and a face plate hermetically sealed together with a small gap between them along one edge of the panel. The electrodes within the panel are connected by conductive runs to contact pads, some on the base plate and some on the face plate, along the aforementioned edge of the panel, and elongated, flexible, metallic terminals are inserted in the space between the base plate and face plate to make contact with the contact pads. For optimum utility, it is necessary to convert the terminals into a rigid, unitary assembly, and, in the prior art, for this purpose, a plastic header was provided into which the terminals were inserted. The plastic header served as a rigid connector socket, and it permitted the terminals to be inserted as a rigid unit into a printed circuit board or the like. Such a connector socket is undesirably expensive and space-consuming, and for many years, attempts have been made to attach the leads directly to the display panel to form the unitary, rigid assembly and thus eliminate the need for a separate connector socket. Up to now, such attempts have not been successful.